That was a great game Saturday night. We made too many mistakes, but we came back and had a chance to win the game. Tech makes very few mistakes and forces you to beat them. We got behind when Ganz made a poor decision and the punt team shifted to allow an overload and a punt block. Although the game was not an athletic mismatch, we didn't have the team speed to catch Taylor. Our coverage teams had problems all night, particularly with Harris. Overall too many mistakes to beat a well-coached team that despite being young didn't make mistakes. Swift had a terrific night with an amazing punt return and big-time catch on the last TD drive.

The offense was inconsistent and ineffective for most of the night. The complete lack of a running game puts pressure on Ganz. We lack any play or series of plays that we can count on to produce yards when we need them. When Helu plays, the entire offense seems crisper. He ran through three guys on his TD run. No other back on the team would have scored on that play. We need to see what Helu could do with 20 carries and consistent playing time. Lucky can still be a big weapon in the passing game and Castille in short yardage. We simply do not have enough margin for error not to have our best players on the field as much as possible.

On defense we lost containment on Taylor too often and left too many receivers wide open to be effective. We have to hope that the defense will improve as the players make fewer assignment errors. We lack playmakers on defense, but that will take time to improve. On a positive note, we did play very good red-zone defense, forcing FG attempts instead of TDs.

This week we play Missouri, which on paper is a mismatch. I was there the last time we lost to them in Lincoln. It was a week after Tom's first win over Oklahoma and an extremely cold day. The great Richard Berns had a huge day, but it wasn't enough to overcome Bradley, Wilder and Winslow. Missouri brings an offense that rivals the '78 version in talent. We need to limit our mistakes and score on their suspect defense to have chance to win. But remember, streaks and trends exist for a reason.